ANNUAL REPORT

2012-2013

President’s Report When I went up to my secondary school, the thought of becoming a mathematician hadn’t crossed my mind. I’d decided at an early age that when I grew up I wanted to become a spy. If I was going to be able to talk to my fellow agents across the world, I realised I was going to have to be good at languages.

So when I started school I signed up for every language possible. They taught French, German and, unusually for a comprehensive at the time, also Latin. The BBC started running a Russian course on television and my French teacher offered to help me with it. I thought the Russian would be especially useful for my dream to become a spy.

But the truth was that I found learning languages very difficult. There didn’t seem to be any logic to explain why certain verbs behaved the way they did, and why certain nouns were masculine or feminine. And I was hopeless at spelling, even in English. The Russian course was a disaster. I could never get my mouth around saying hello – Zdravstvuyte. Since this was the name of the programme made Mr Bailson think that I might have an appetite for and even after eight weeks of following the course I still finding what was out there beyond the arithmetic of the couldn’t say it, I began to despair. classroom.

Latin did hold out some prospects, as the strict grammar He told me I should read Martin Gardner’s column in appealed to my emerging desire for things which made Scientific American. He gave me the name of a few books logical sense and weren’t just apparently random which he thought I might enjoy, including G H Hardy’s A associations. Or was it that it was always my name that Mathematician’s Apology and one called The Language of the teacher used for second declension nouns: Marcus, Mathematics by Frank Land. Just the effect of a teacher Marce, Marcum… taking a personal interest in me was enough to spur me on to find out what he was talking about. Then at the age of 12 my mathematics teacher pointed at me during a class and said: “du Sautoy, see me at the end The Language of Mathematics particularly intrigued me. of the lesson”. I thought I must be in trouble. When he I’d never thought of mathematics as a language. At school took me round the back of the maths block I knew I was it just seemed to be a load of numbers that you could really in trouble. But then he took out a cigar from his multiply or divide, add or subtract with varying degrees of pocket. He explained that this is where he came to smoke difficulty. But as I looked through this book I realised what at break-time. The other teachers didn’t like the smoke in my teacher had meant: “you should find out what maths the common room. He lit the cigar slowly and turned to is really about”. It was those books and his interest that I me: “I think you should find out what mathematics is have to thank for inspiring my love of mathematics. really about”. During my year as president of The Mathematical I don’t quite know even now why he singled me out from Association I’ve been greatly encouraged to see how all the others in the class to get this revelation. I was far many other ‘Mr and Mrs Bailsons’ there are out there in from being a maths prodigy and lots of my friends seemed the teaching profession. The future of mathematics as a equally talented at the subject. But something obviously living, breathing subject depends on teachers giving 1 students the key to the secret garden of mathematics. It is site is being completely overhauled. It is intended to with much gratitude that I thank The Mathematical introduce a Members’ Area where members will be able Association for having me as its President this year. to go online to pay subscriptions, register for the Annual Supporting teachers is as important as nurturing students. Conference, obtain discounts on items in the online shop The future of our subject is in the hands of those teachers and gain access to high quality teaching resources. It is fair who can share with students the powerful language that to say that the development of the new website has not is mathematics. been without its problems and frustrations. However, at the time of writing, there is now a realistic possibility that Marcus du Sautoy (President 2012-2013) the new site will be operational very soon.

Chair’s Report from Council The various committees form a major part of MA Council meets quarterly on Saturdays at MA business. Reports on their activities can be found later in Headquarters. The normal pattern for a Council meeting is this Annual Report and so I shall not duplicate details to start at 10.30 and finish at 15.30, with a lunch break of here. However, I would like to single out Teaching roughly 30 minutes. Five hours is about the limit for Committee (TC) which has by far the heaviest load. Indeed intense discussion as thereafter fatigue sets in. During TC could be regarded as the engine room of the MA. The that time a huge amount of business has to be transacted. previous year saw the election of a new government while Major items come at the top of the agenda. Later on in this year saw changes among the ministerial team at the the meeting, some reports from committees might be Department for Education, as well as U-turns in accepted without debate when there are no major issues. government policy. The deluge of consultations continued unabated, with many being related to the proposed new In between each Council meeting there is a meeting of National Curriculum. Details of some of these were Standing Committee which again typically lasts for about received directly while others were disseminated via the five hours. Each such meeting reviews the outcome of the Joint Mathematical Council on which the MA is previous Council meeting and prepares the ground for the represented. TC, with the aid of its various next. The emphasis tends to be on matters of strategy subcommittees, was the natural body to scrutinise most rather than on the fine detail of reports from committees. of these documents and, where appropriate, to prepare a Standing Committee has the power to act on Council’s response or position paper. Most of these can be found behalf if an issue arises which has to be handled quickly on the We Say section of the website. Not surprisingly, but it has to report to the next Council meeting on the there are often various shades of opinion among action it has taken. colleagues. Fortunately we are blessed with a number of An early agenda item at each Council meeting is Finance. people who can take a range of disparate views and Bill Richardson, in his first year as Treasurer, has mould them into coherent and cogent documents. presented regular Profit & Loss statements which have It is appropriate at this stage to recognise the huge input enabled Council to analyse the income and expenditure from Chris Pritchard, who is stepping down as Chair of TC. under various headings. The timing of payments can make When he took on this role four years ago, he restructured it difficult to obtain a direct comparison with the previous the main committee, reducing its size, making use of link year. The amount that appears in the accounts for the members for liaison with other committees and loss over the financial year 2012 should be viewed in this establishing a small Advisory Group. This new structure light. The Association has made considerable progress in has proved to be well suited to the huge workload of TC. cutting expenditure. However increasing income has proved a challenge and much work remains to be done in Invitations are often received to send representatives to this regard. Particularly worrying has been a drop in the launch of an initiative or a meeting with government subscription income. Members are the lifeblood of the officials. Every effort is made to take up such invitations Association and there have been long debates on how to so that the MA maintains a high profile and its voice is arrest the decline in membership. heard. In the latter connection the MA has engaged Mango Marketing on a time-limited basis. While it is hard Council has been examining the way it conducts its to assess how successful such a venture is proving to be, it business. Two issues that have received particular can be said that the MA has obtained a number of attention are the size of Council and the number of mentions in the media and some educational journals, as meetings held each year. Currently the size of Council is well as in official documents and reports. 22 and this number includes the Officers, the Chairs of major committees and 9 Members without Office. There The year has seen increased liaison with the Association is a view that Council is too big and should be reduced in of Teachers of Mathematics (ATM). Two manifestations of size by around 3 members. Discussions are ongoing as to this were a joint response to consultation on aspects of how this might be achieved. A feasibility study is also the National Curriculum and joint representation at a ongoing to see if it would be possible to reduce the proposed meeting with ministers and civil servants at the number of Council meetings per year from 4 to 3 without Department of Education. A possible joint MA/ATM affecting the efficiency and effectiveness of Council. Conference in 2016 is currently being explored.

Mindful of the demands on members’ time, Council has At each Annual General Meeting, various members of also been considering whether it might be possible to use Council come to the end of their terms of office. In modern technology in appropriate circumstances. addition to Chris Pritchard, those stepping down in April The website has continued to generate a considerable 2013 included Paul Andrews (Immediate Past President) amount of discussion. As reported last year, the existing and Liz Woodham (Member without Office). Marcus du 2 Sautoy stepped down as President and was succeeded by Sadly, which I suspect is a sign of the times, numbers were Peter Ransom. lower than we had hope for, although all those who went had an enjoyable and rewarding time, both socially and The MA faces many challenges. Nevertheless, with a solid professionally. There were some excellent sessions. foundation of talented and enthusiastic colleagues on However, to avoid apparent favouritism I shall restrict my Council and on the various committees, the MA can look comments to the plenary talks. Rachael Horsman opened to the future with cautious optimism. the conference with an account from the front line. Full of Adam McBride (Chair of Council) energy and enthusiasm, Rachael not only reminded us of the joys of being a teacher of school mathematics but Branches Committee gave us a number of delightful tasks to take with us. The Branches Committee met twice during the year, once Marcus du Sautoy’s Presidential Address, in which he told in October at HQ and also immediately after the MA some of the great stories of mathematics that have Conference at Keele in April 2012. inspired him, set the tone for the conference. Finally, the conference was closed with David Spiegelhalter’s hugely At the October meeting, the morning was spent covering entertaining talk ( but equally worrying when set against usual ‘Branches business’. Individual Branch programmes human beings’ largely false intuitions about uncertainty ) of events for the academic year were presented; Branch on probability and risk. Between times, the conference finances confirmed; Committee officers were elected; dinner was a typically enjoyable opportunity to enjoy reports from other MA committees were received. The good food, good company and good wine, followed by afternoon session was spent discussing a working paper one of the most entertaining and mathematically written by the Branches Chair entitled ‘What Future for challenging after-dinner talks I have ever experienced. Art MA Branches ? ‘ This paper tried to highlight the reasons Benjamin’s mental mathematical gymnastics were not behind declining numbers of Branches and Branch only astounding and amusing but a measure of what a members over the years and to tentatively suggest ideas human mind can do when determinedly focused on for reversing this trend over the next few years. It became mastering a particular challenge; which is probably why clear from the discussion that even some existing most of us were attracted to mathematics in the first Branches are experiencing difficulties in maintaining levels place. of activity and that ‘new blood with fresh ideas’ would be welcome both locally and at Branches committee. Future Paul Andrews (Chair of Conferences) plans must target this. Professional Development Committee The April meeting reported on the year so far. It was The Professional Development Committee met three noted that Branch events were similar in number to 2010- times during 2012-13 (the November meeting being 11 and audience figures quoted were encouraging. The convened using the online service GoToMeeting) and the meeting discussed how MA News should be a vehicle for main function of the Committee continues to be publicising future Branch events and also as a feedback concerned with the close monitoring of its professional mechanism on the success of recent past events, so that development projects and events aimed both at members were fully aware of a thriving and successful members of the MA and at the wider teaching workforce local Branch. This applied similarly to the Branches pages in line with the principal objective of the Association of the MA website and further discussion took place which is "to promote and support the professional relating to the features and functionality a re-designed development of teachers". website must have if it wants to attract more readers. Promotional features such as ‘How to set up an MA The Committee promotes the award of Chartered Branch’ are planned to aim at the younger professional Mathematics Teacher status for those actively involved in teacher audience. mathematics teaching and three of its members, Jennie Golding, Liz Woodham and Alison Clark-Wilson continued Pressures on Branch activity continue to mount. For to represent The Mathematical Association on the example, some institutions are now charging for room Chartered Mathematics Teacher Registration Authority. use; some local Branch committees are struggling for Full details of the designation and how to apply can be members with the effect of an increasing workload on the found on The Mathematical Association’s website few; teacher members appear to be under an ever- (http://www.m-a.org.uk/jsp/index.jsp?lnk=150). increasing pressure of work. Despite this, 2012-13 has seen a good number of examples of well-run events, with The Committee oversaw two one-day events for teachers many teachers and their students responding very of mathematics during 2012-13, and what follows is a positively about the benefits of such events. Local Branch brief summary of these conferences. officers remain enthusiastic about what they do. The The committee continues to be indebted to Bill Branches Committee will do everything it can to maintain Richardson in his role as organiser of the highly successful and expand the activities of its Branches in the coming Annual Scottish One-day Conference for Teachers of years. Secondary Mathematics, which held its 7th conference at Dave Pountney (Chair of Branches) the University of Stirling on 29th September 2012. The Annual Conference 2013 event maintains its position as a regular event on Scottish mathematics teachers’ annual calendars and the day was The Annual Conference saw a return to Loughborough enjoyed by over 160 delegates, which represented an and a wide and exciting programme of activities focused increase on the previous year’s conference. on the teaching and learning of mathematics at all levels. 3 A one-day event, Foundations for Algebra, was held at Peter Ransom Symmetry Plus Wycombe High School on Saturday 3rd November 2012. Will Ransom Mathematical Pie The event attracted 30 participants, who were mainly (and Erik Gooding for Pie primary teachers. The event was planned and organised Notes) by Peter Ransom and Julia Brown, for which PDC is highly Sue Waring MA News appreciative, particularly as they were under the spotlight Production Teams of NCETM colleagues who observed the event as part of Helen Morris Mathematics in School an NCETM CPD Standard monitoring visit. The subsequent Bill Richardson The Mathematical Gazette report praised the high quality of the event, whilst also Tina Webb Mathematics in School and providing some development points to widen and Primary Mathematics enhance The Mathematical Association’s PD provision. Advertising Janet Powell

Finally, the Committee said goodbye to its Chair, Liz Without the hard work of the above, and many others Woodham, who formally resigned from this role in who do tasks such as proof reading and editing the September 2012. We thank her for her work and wish her reviews, the Association would not have such a wide well in the future. range of excellent journals. I would also like to thank the staff at HQ for all the assistance that they give to the Alison Clark-Wilson editors and production teams. (acting Chair of Professional Development) This has been more of a reflective year for the Editorial Publications Committee Board than perhaps the previous years have been. The The Committee consisted of me, Michael Fox, Paul Harris, Association has carried out a review of the work carried Mary Ledwick, Bill Richardson and Sue Waring. Our task is out by the editors to investigate relative sizes of the simply described: workloads of the different editorial teams so that this is “to publish, at a profit, innovative and exciting reflected in the Honoraria paid to the Editors for the work publications that further the aims of the association.” that they do. In the next year or so, there will be a similar review of relative workloads of the production teams. To this end, over the year we have published the following titles Once again I would like to thank the editorial and More Problem Solving – The creative side of Mathematics: production teams for their hard work, and I look forward Derek Holton; to working with them in 2013-14 so that we may continue GCSE Revision Cards (Higher Tier): Mary Ledwick; to produce the high quality journals that the Association Padlock Challenges (KS 3): Rachael Horsman; can be proud of. Maths Adventures with Twoo (KS1): Sue Waring; Paul Harris (Editor-in-Chief) GCSE Posters: Mary Ledwick. Primary Mathematics Challenge All were published in time for Conference. This year there was a disappointing drop in numbers During the year we made a significant surplus on our taking part in the PMC. The number of schools dropped trading. A part of this came from our new sales channel from 2432 to 1880. 7054 packs were sold. The reason for through Amazon. We will hope to build our expertise and the drop is unknown. experience of this important way to market our titles. An unusually large number of pupils scored high marks in We look forward to another year of continuing success, the November paper. 268 pupils scored 25/25, 585 scored finding new ideas and the people to develop them 24/25 and 887 scored 23/25 so 1740 pupils were invited through to publication. We welcome all ideas. to sit the Bonus round. Either the children are becoming Again I give my thanks to the Committee for all their more able or the paper was a little too easy! On the bonus dedicated hard work over the last year, and to all the round just 9 pupils scored 25/25, and 515 pupils scored others who give their time and expertise in preparing 20+ and will be awarded a medal. resources for publication. Barry Lewis (Chair of Publications) The administrative changes which were brought in last [email protected] year were continued this year. Packs were all mailed out together. As ever, postal delays caused some problems Editorial Happenings and some packs were never delivered. Where possible, First, I would like to express my gratitude to the editorial the MA office arranged for replacement packs to be sent and production teams who do such a brilliant job of and in some cases a PDF was sent to the school so that producing the journals for the Association. In particular I they could take the Challenge at the appropriate time. It would like to thank the following for their tireless work: might be better to offer PMC as a PDF to all schools overseas, with charges varying according to the number of Editors: pupils to be entered. Jenni Back Primary Mathematics John Berry Mathematics in School We received feedback from many of the schools which Ray Gibbons Equals entered, most of which was positive. Generally the Ray Huntley Primary Mathematics administration is considered to be efficient and easy.

Gerry Leversha The Mathematical Gazette The MA office staff suggested that all schools should be Cherri Moseley Primary Mathematics required to use the Royal Mail tracking service, so this Chris Pritchard Mathematics in School charge would automatically be added to the order. The 4 management team considered this, but as the cost of at MA HQ to see how the entire mathematical library of PMC may be one reason for the drop in numbers it was John Hersee – books and manuscripts – has been decided to continue as currently for another year and re- accommodated by the MA and the University of Leicester. consider the matter next year. The Hersee manuscripts have been publicised both by Mike Price in an article for MA News and by John Denniss More schools are registering on-line, but payment cannot in a new monograph, Figuring It Out (2012), concerning be made on-line. We are investigating whether on-line his own comparable collection. registrations could automatically generate an invoice for the school. MA News has also celebrated fifty years of MA newsletters in its 150th number which features an Peter Bailey has been leading the Problems Team since illustrated article by Mike Price and Mary Walmsley on Rudolf Loewenstein stepped down. Alex Voice has now the changing editorship and format of these newsletters. offered to take on this role and has also offered to prepare the papers and do the typesetting. Storage and Cataloguing: A complete chronology of all the nineteenth-century The new PMC book is published and available from MA publications of The Association for the Improvement of publications. Geometrical Teaching (the MA’s original name) has been The current financial situation is clearly affected by the prepared and added to the MA website as a spreadsheet low uptake this year, but nevertheless there is a very clear file, alongside the file listing all the MA’s twentieth- surplus in the PMC accounts. The MA Sage accounts show century publications. a surplus of approximately £40k, although this does not A review has been undertaken of the condition and value include staffing costs. of all the MA books, including some duplicates, over the We experimented with ‘blanket mailings’ to two LEAs this period 1800-1850, which are still accommodated on the year. We mailed 1777 Yorkshire schools and received 130 open shelves. In consequence, many books have been orders (24 of which had never previously entered). We identified for transfer to the more secure locations of the mailed 380 Surrey schools and received orders from 116 David Wilson Library’s Special Collections or the External (10 of which had never previously entered). We intend to Store. This work is ongoing and is being overseen by Dr target two different authorities this year as well as Simon Dixon, Special Collections Manager who was continuing with mailings to schools which have entered in appointed in 2012. He is the new University Library staff the last five years and to MAST course leaders. We would link for the MA and his strong support in his new role is also like to increase our advertising to independent already evident. schools and to identify and target schools which are Mike Price (Librarian and Chair of Library Committee) achieving high SATs results. Lesley Jones (Chair of PMC Management Team) Teaching Committee

Library Committee Teaching Committee Disposal of Books and Archival Material: A policy for disposal, or otherwise, of all components of [email protected] the MA Library has been prepared, presented to Council, and agreed in its entirety, bar the Wittgenstein Archive Chair Chris Pritchard (see below). A small box of duplicate books has been [email protected] donated to the STEM Centre in York. Secretary Sue Forrest Wittgenstein Archive of Francis Skinner: The Library Committee recommended to Council that the Acting Chair Designate Archive should be digitised, at Trinity College’s expense, Rachael Horsman and that the Archive should not be sold. The Council and its Standing Committee are divided on the two issues, and Once more this year, the rate of change within education the future of the Archive remains unresolved. The history has been considerable and Teaching Committee, together of the Archive and its links with R L Goodstein (a former with its three age-and-stage subcommittees, has been Librarian and President) have been incorporated in a pressed to meet the challenges presented. Since the presentation by Mike Price and Mary Walmsley given at a summer, we have produced the following responses and commemorative day on ‘The Legacy of Goodstein’, held at position papers which can now be found at the We Say the University of Leicester to mark the centenary of section of the Mathematical Association website: Goodstein’s birth. The presentation has been developed to appear as an article in The Mathematical Gazette later Response to DfE’s KS4 Reform Proposals in 2013. Statement on Measuring Performance Detailed Position Paper on Measuring Performance Hersee Book and Manuscript Collections: Commending Ofsted’s Mathematics: Made to A sample of photographs by Mary Walmsley has been Measure added to the pdf file which includes contents listings for Response to Ofqual’s A Level Reform Proposals nearly two hundred of the Hersee manuscript copy books. Members of the Hersee family have visited over one day both the David Wilson Library and the John Hersee Room

5 My thanks to all those who contributed to the Primary Subcommittee construction of these documents, whether from the greater TC family or from Council. [email protected]

The level of our engagement with various bodies is increasing all the time. Many of our contacts are through Chair Vivien Townsend a formal process but we are also called on to provide guidance behind the scenes, for example in the case of Jenny Orton’s responding to ACME’s post-16 strategy. There was high-level contact with the DfE through the This year, the group has gone from strength to strength attendance of Stefano Pozzi at the most recent meeting of and we now have an astonishing 65 members covering Teaching Committee at the end of January. Stefano is pretty much every possible job in primary mathematics overseeing the current changes to the National education, and many corners of the UK (and beyond). Curriculum, both at primary and secondary levels, and we 15±5 of us meet termly and we are committed in these took the opportunity to quiz him on the philosophical meetings, and in between them through lively email background and the practicalities of the latest conversations, to do, further and promote the work of developments. The discussions have been written up for MA and ATM. We would welcome new members – Mathematics in School, We Say and MA News. especially practising teachers – who are keen to get involved. If you’d like to join us, please get in touch. As to future work, we are hoping that a proposed collaboration with Oxfam and Think Global will attract The past 12 months have been largely occupied with the funding from the Nuffield Foundation. On Oxfam’s developments to the NC. In June 2012, upon publication website there are already a number of cross-curricular of the first draft, we composed a comprehensive, well- resources for teachers to incorporate in their lessons. Our referenced and heart-felt response via ACME, which we role would be to ensure that mathematical or statistical also sent directly to DfE and other parties. This response is aspects are handled according to the latest pedagogical available via association websites. As a result of our advice and in line with the needs of the curriculum. If the response, we were invited to meet with Nick Gibb MP in funding does not come through, we would likely continue the autumn. Unfortunately, when he was replaced by Liz to work with Oxfam but on a smaller scale. Truss, despite our letters requesting that the meeting be kept, it was cancelled. The good news is that we have There have been additions to our membership in Alison been recently invited (along with secondary colleagues Parish, Caroline Clissold and Jim Simons, and Teaching from MA/ATM) to meet with her in March. Watch this Committee has already been bolstered by their space. attendance and contributions. Our Primary Subcommittee, which forms part of a substantial, joint The second draft of the NC for public consultation was MA/ATM Primary Group under Viv Townsend, is especially published in February 2013 and we are currently busy strong and increasingly influential. The 11-16 collating our thoughts in order to respond with the same Subcommittee has had another fine year under Rachael rigour as earlier. Stefano Pozzi from DfE met with the Horsman but, with her attention moving elsewhere, a group in February to hear our ideas and answer our new Chair is needed for this group. Meanwhile, the Post- questions about this draft. As we had also been in contact 16 Subcommittee, temporarily led by Tom Button, is with DfE about changes to the EYFS curriculum (in actively seeking new blood. If you would like to be November), we took the opportunity to ask Stefano about involved with any of our groups, please speak to the some aspects of this as well. respective Chair or to Sue Forrest as TC Secretary. You will Looking ahead, we will be considering how we support be made most welcome, especially if you’re keen to roll primary members of MA/ATM in preparing for the new up your sleeves. There remains much to do, and at pace. curriculum. We are still working on the joint publication This is my last Annual Report as Chair, so I would like to about cross-curricular opportunities …and Maths and comment very briefly on the four years I have had the considering how this fits with the new curriculum. privilege to lead this most important of MA Committees. Members continue to promote MA and ATM publications Our work during this time has featured an initial period of and membership in their professional interactions and the structural change which saw the primary representation group continues to consider how to encourage primary strengthened and a greater capacity to produce position teachers/schools to join a subject association, as well as papers and respond to the unrelenting political agenda how to make the associations more attractive to primary for change. My thanks go to the subcommittee Chairs and institutions and practitioners. The group has explored their members, to our small Advisory Group and to various possibilities for joint working over the past year Council. TC members have worked tirelessly to meet the and will continue to do so where it is felt to be beneficial. challenges we have faced and the contributions of Peter Cherri Moseley (MA) and myself (ATM) are part of a Thomas, then Sue Forrest and David Miles, have been newly-formed group of representatives from across all noteworthy. I trust that the whole Association will provide subject associations. This has resulted in the maths the incoming Chair with every support. associations being marketed with all of the others on the TeachIt Primary website, and has also resulted in closer working between the different associations. We have been invited to talk at NAPE and ASPE events and there is

6 a possibility of us being involved in a series of conferences We are continuing to work on the ‘Hooks’ for post-16 covering all subject areas in the future. mathematics. These are single visual images that can be used by teachers to provoke discussion and investigation

and we expect to have these available soon. We are also revisiting the website content in the post-16 area to 11–16 Subcommittee ensure there is information there to support all members Chair Rachael Horsman who teach students at this level. [email protected] We have recently responded to a number of consultations and reports relating to post-16 mathematics, such as the ACME paper on Post-16 Mathematics and the Nuffield Foundation report on international comparisons in post- The 11-16 Subcommittee continues to be well attended, 16 Mathematics. The quantity of consultations, reports with representation from the private and state sectors, and initiatives in this area is likely to grow in the near retired and numeracy consultant members. The group has future and we will continue to respond and contribute to had three meetings at MA Headquarters in Leicester these, as it is important that the subject associations have during the year, each a full and lively day of discussions a strong voice in all proposed changes to A-Levels and and production of papers, responses and resources. other post-16 mathematics qualifications. Following on the back of the successful revision cards, the We represent a good range of post-16 environments, but subcommittee has worked on several new publications are always interested in any prospective new members so included an upcoming book Padlock Challenges, revision as to be able to strengthen our responses to any posters about angles rules and geometric proof and a consultations and reports. Please contact me by email or Mathematical Association Calendar (for 2014). Yet again find me at the Annual Conference if you are interested in the subcommittee has been involved in a number of CPD joining us. events including the Annual Conference and the September Stirling Conference. As opening speaker at the United Kingdom Mathematics Trust (UKMT) 2013 Conference, I hope that we can further advertise the The numbers of students entered for the Mathematics good work of the Association and its members. Challenges this year were as follows: Junior 283,520; A large amount of time has been spent collecting Intermediate 245,760; Senior 98,560. There was a record members’ views and opinions for the multiple number of entries to the Senior Challenge, and entries to consultations and papers that needed a response. Our both the Intermediate and Junior Challenges were also up thanks go to David Miles, Sue Forrest and Chris Pritchard compared to 2011-12. 1,647 teams entered the Team for all their hard work in putting these together under Mathematics Challenge, and 1,100 teams entered the TC’s guidance. Senior Team Mathematics Challenge, both these numbers up on the previous year. In addition, eight teacher Looking to the year ahead the subcommittee is meetings are due to take place in the early summer 2013, concentrating on developing more ‘pull out’ resources for in Cardiff, Cambridge, Glasgow, Greenwich, Liverpool, Mathematics in School. We are hoping that this will help Southampton, Warwick and York, and students continue encourage more teachers to become subcommittee to benefit from the mentoring scheme. There is an members. We will also be collecting comments on the increasing list of mathematical books published by UKMT, new KS3 and KS4 programmes of study when the with three new books published in 2012-13. consultations begin. If you would like to add your opinions to our response to the new consultation, or join the In July 2012, the International Mathematical Olympiad subcommittee, please get in touch. We look forward to was held in Argentina, and the UK team came back with 1 another productive year! Gold, 1 Silver and 4 Bronze medals, and came joint 22nd equal out of 100 participating countries. The 54th IMO

will be held in Colombia, in July 2013. The second Post-16 Subcommittee European Girls’ Mathematical Olympiad was held in Interim Chair Tom Button Luxembourg in April 2013. The UK team was awarded 1 [email protected] silver medal, 1 bronze medal and 2 honourable mentions, and came 11th out of 22 participating countries. EGMO 2014 will be held in Turkey. A UK team was also sent to compete in the Romanian Master of Mathematics in February 2013, where they came 3rd out of 15 teams, I would like to start by thanking Jenny Orton for all her behind the USA and Russia. hard work chairing the post-16 subcommittee over the last year. Jenny is taking a break from this role and I am The UKMT continued to run activities introduced last year. currently standing in for her. More students were invited to participate in the Senior Kangaroo (which was introduced last year as a new follow The Post-16 subcommittee has met termly in London this on round to the Senior Challenge), and a new set of year where he have devoted our time to discussing Primary Team Mathematics resources were launched in materials produced for teachers and proposals and January 2013. This set of materials was once again reports relating to post-16 mathematics. produced with the aim of providing secondary schools with materials to run mathematical events for their feeder 7 primary schools. The teacher notes accompanying these at the European Girls Mathematical Olympiad in resources refer teachers to further relevant materials Luxembourg in April the UK team of four gained one silver, including the Primary Mathematics Challenge, and links to one bronze and two honourable mentions, to rank them the MA website. 11th out of 22 teams. The Mathematical Circles trialled last year are being As usual there were two Summer Schools in July 2012 in expanded from April 2013 thanks to new funding from the Birmingham for pupils from Years 10 and 11; the DfE. The DfE is also providing funding in 2013 and 2014 to Mentoring scheme continued for all age-groups; and expand the Summer School programme and run two new training camps for potential Olympiad competitors were Summer Schools. This is in addition to the new Summer held in Oxford, Hungary, Cambridge and Oundle. School for Girls supported by numerous colleges at Oxford Philip Coggins (MA Representative) University in August 2013. Headquarters Arrangements for the UKMT to host the international Association Kangourou sans Frontières meeting in At April 2012, the Headquarters Team was:- Edinburgh in late October 2013 are progressing. Senior Administrator - Marcia Murray The dates for the challenges in 2013-14 are: Junior Finance Officer - Linda Medhurst Challenge (ages 11-13): Thursday 1 May 2014; Membership Officer - Charnjit Seehra Intermediate Challenge (ages 13-16): Thursday 6 February Administrative Assistant - Lisa O’Donnell 2014; Senior Challenge (ages 16-18): Thursday 7 Clerical Assistant - Emma de Riso November 2013. In addition to these three challenges, Marcia Murray (Senior Administrator) students who do well are invited to take part in the follow-on rounds, the Junior, Intermediate and British Association Regulations Mathematical Olympiads and the Kangaroos. Regulations can be viewed at: The UKMT recently set up a money-giving page and http://www.m-a.org.uk/jsp/index.jsp?lnk=850 welcomes donations regardless of size. Further information can be found at www.donate.ukmt.org.uk. The Council from April 2013 UKMT is always looking for more helpers, whether to submit questions or to help at events. There is a form for President Peter Ransom volunteers at: Immediate Past President Marcus du Sautoy President Elect Lynne McClure http://www.getting-involved.ukmt.org.uk/ Chair of Council Adam McBride John Silvester (MA representative) Secretary Catherine Farmar Treasurer Bill Richardson The British Mathematical Olympiad Committee Chairs of Committees The location for the International Mathematical Olympiad Branches David Pountney in July 2012 was, as it had been in 1997, Mar del Plata in Conferences Vacant Argentina. The UK team came away with one gold, one Editor-in-Chief Paul Harris silver and four bronze medals, placing the UK 22nd= out of Professional Development Julia Brown (acting) more than 100 participating countries. In September, at Publications Barry Lewis the Royal Society celebration of their achievement, Publicity and Membership Cherri Moseley Professor Ben Green gave a lecture on “Prime Numbers”. Teaching Committee Rachael Horsman (acting) Earlier, in April, Turkey hosted the Balkan Mathematical Olympiad; there the UK team won two silver and two Members-without-Office bronze medals, with the remaining two members each Fiona Allan Paul Metcalf receiving an honourable mention (for a complete solution Alison Clark-Wilson Chris Pritchard by a non-medal winner). The preparatory rounds for the David Crawford Charlie Stripp 2013 International competitions included the UK Tony Gardiner Mathematical Olympiad for Girls in September and BMO1 and 2 in December and January. At the Romanian Master The Company Secretary is Mr Bill Richardson. of Mathematics in February the UK put in a very creditable performance (two gold, one silver, one bronze, two honourable mentions), placing them third out of 15. And

8 THE MATHEMATICAL ASSOCIATION (A company limited by guarantee)

REGISTERED NUMBER: 05729264

BALANCE SHEET 31 DECEMBER 2012

2012 2011 £ £ Notes

FIXED ASSETS Tangible 6 292,725 298,896

CURRENT ASSETS Stocks 17,970 19,736 Debtors 7 15,212 18,369 Cash at bank and in hand 299,114 335,987

332,296 374,092 CREDITORS: amounts falling due within one year 8 (72,023) (105,897)

NET CURRENT ASSETS 260,273 268,195

TOTAL ASSETS LESS CURRENT LIABILITIES 552,998 567,091

REPRESENTED BY Revaluation reserve 10 141,000 147,000 Unrestricted Funds 10 411,998 420,091

552,998 567,091

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the special provisions of Part 15 of the Companies Act 2006 relating to small companies and in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard for Smaller Entities (effective April 2008).

The financial statements were approved and authorised for issue by the Council and were signed on its behalf on .

Prof A C McBride O.B.E. Chair of Council

Mr W P Richardson M.B.E. Treasurer

Date:

The notes on pages 11 to 17 form part of these financial statements.

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